Abstract
Hangers are important tensile members in half-through arch bridges and through arch bridges (HTABs and TABs). The floating deck structures of HTABs and TABs will commonly produce longitudinal deformation and rotate under the effect of temperature and the temperature gradient, which will cause bending deformation at anchorages of fixed-end hangers. This bending deformation can generate adverse bending stress for hangers and decrease the strength and fatigue properties of the seven-wire strands in the hangers. Firstly, theoretical derivation and finite element analysis are conducted to study the bending stress of hangers that is caused by bending deformation. We find that bending stress of hangers is mainly generated by lateral bending caused by the difference in longitudinal displacement at both ends of the hangers under the effect of temperature. Subsequently, the ultimate tensile strength of the seven-wire strands under lateral bending is obtained by FEM and an experimental study. The ultimate tensile strength of the seven-wire strands could decrease by 23.3% when lateral bending is considered. Moreover, the relationship between the fatigue properties of the seven-wire strands and lateral bending is obtained based on observing the ultimate tensile strength under lateral bending. Lateral bending significantly influences the fatigue properties of the seven-wire strands. When the lateral bending angle reaches about 50 mrad, the fatigue resistance of the seven-wire strands drop by almost 40%. The considerable decrease in the strength and fatigue properties of the seven-wire strands indicates that lateral bending has a significant adverse influence on hangers that consist of seven-wire strands. Finally, it is advised to use the tied arch structure for HTABs and TABs to mitigate the adverse influence of lateral bending on hangers.
Highlights
In half-through and through arch bridges (HTABs and TABs), bridge decks are connected to arch ribs by hangers
The error of the ultimate tensile strength between the results of the finite element analysis and the results of the tests is controlled by 10%, which indicates the validity of the finite element method (FEM)
The ultimate tensile ultimate tensile strength between the results of the finite element analysis and the results of the tests is controlled by 10%, which indicates the validity of the finite element method (FEM)
Summary
In half-through and through arch bridges (HTABs and TABs), bridge decks are connected to arch ribs by hangers. In the past few decades, many HTABs and TABs with floating deck structures have failed due to the sudden failure of their hangers [1,2,3], such as Nanmen Bridge (2001) (as shown in Figure 1a), Peacock River Bridge (2011), Gongguan Bridge (2011), and Nanfang’ao Bridge (2019). It is clear that corrosion and fatigue are the main factors that lead to the fracture of tension-resisting elements in hangers and further cause the sudden failures of bridge hangers [4,5,6,7]. Some scholars have suggested that, besides corrosion and fatigue, the bending deformation of both
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